McConnell: Shutting down government not conservative

10/20/13 11:09 AM EDT

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Sunday reiterated his pledge not to shut down the government a second time and said doing so wasn't in line with conservative principles.

"Shutting down the government, in my view, is not conservative policy," the Kentucky Republican said on CBS's "Face The Nation." "I don't think a two-week paid vacation for federal employees is conservative policy. A number of us were saying back in July that this strategy could not - and would not - work, and of course it didn't. So there will not be another government shutdown. You can count on that."

But Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), a leading advocate of the shutdown strategy, said in an interview on ABC's "This Week" that he'd be willing to shutdown the government again in order to stop the president's health care law.